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My Amazon TV Now Unmutes Itself During Prime Video Commercial Breaks

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Re: My Amazon TV Now Unmutes Itself During Prime Video Commercial Breaks

#91
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

in the UK people used to rent TVs, a company called "Radio Rentals", and in the days when TVs were unreliable it made sense - you paid a fixed amount per month and got a working TV in return. A service like any other. That was more akin to renting a house though, rather than borrowing money to buy a house.

My stepfather did this and paid for his ancient TV many, many times over. You'll do this with a mortgage too, of course, but to a much lesser degree.

Not really with a mortgage, as you're not looking at the fact $1 today is more valuable than $1 tomorrow.

Re: My Amazon TV Now Unmutes Itself During Prime Video Commercial Breaks

#92
post #89
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get your frustration with bugs but, what TVs (or any other consumer electronic product) aren’t reliant upon software for basic system control nowadays? Hardware isn’t inherently bug-free and the “quality” of old hardware is usually due to its narrow scope of functionality; the ability to (theoretically trivially) modify software means that hardware can/does become better/more capable. I see so many folks complain t…

> what TVs (or any other consumer electronic product) aren’t reliant upon software for basic system control nowadays? How many of them can't get basic volume control to work? Yes, the fact that modern TVs are so filled with SW is one of the reasons I haven't upgraded my TV in 15 years. More importantly, can anyone explain to me the benefit of these TVs (other than display) compared to the old ones? What smartness in…

>What smartness in modern TVs can I get that's important to me that I can't get via a Roku or similar device?

Only you know what is important to you, but I like automatic volume levels, for example. I stayed at AirBnB a couple years ago, which had some commodity TV (Vizio?) w/o automatic volume and learned they still do loud commercials. My home TV keeps volume at the same audible level during commercials. Same with auto-brightness, I get nice image all through the day and night illumination levels in the living room. Voice control is handy when you don't live alone so other people may have a remote at the moment or it could take some time to find.

Apps on my 6 y.o. TV still work just fine, I don't need to attach devices to a TV, which neatly hangs on a wall without things hanging from it. The TV is running Android so it will keep updating from the Google's app store as long as the app vendor keeps maintaining it.

Re: My Amazon TV Now Unmutes Itself During Prime Video Commercial Breaks

#94
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> what TVs (or any other consumer electronic product) aren’t reliant upon software for basic system control nowadays? How many of them can't get basic volume control to work? Yes, the fact that modern TVs are so filled with SW is one of the reasons I haven't upgraded my TV in 15 years. More importantly, can anyone explain to me the benefit of these TVs (other than display) compared to the old ones? What smartness in…

>What smartness in modern TVs can I get that's important to me that I can't get via a Roku or similar device? Only you know what is important to you, but I like automatic volume levels, for example. I stayed at AirBnB a couple years ago, which had some commodity TV (Vizio?) w/o automatic volume and learned they still do loud commercials. My home TV keeps volume at the same audible level during commercials. Same with…

Of these, the only thing I would like is automatic volume control, and HW only versions have existed for a long time.

Auto-brightness - I put in a lot of effort in setting the brightness/contrast, and would really not want some SW messing it up.

Voice control - couldn't care less (and yes, I do own voice assistants and use them).

Re: My Amazon TV Now Unmutes Itself During Prime Video Commercial Breaks

#95

Advertising is a virus. It will take over all ecosystems.

Rational agents offer information hoping to persuade their counterparties?!?!

if it were an offer, then i could choose not to be exposed to it.

Re: My Amazon TV Now Unmutes Itself During Prime Video Commercial Breaks

#96
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>What smartness in modern TVs can I get that's important to me that I can't get via a Roku or similar device? Only you know what is important to you, but I like automatic volume levels, for example. I stayed at AirBnB a couple years ago, which had some commodity TV (Vizio?) w/o automatic volume and learned they still do loud commercials. My home TV keeps volume at the same audible level during commercials. Same with…

Of these, the only thing I would like is automatic volume control, and HW only versions have existed for a long time. Auto-brightness - I put in a lot of effort in setting the brightness/contrast, and would really not want some SW messing it up. Voice control - couldn't care less (and yes, I do own voice assistants and use them).

Something claiming to be X doesn't mean it's X at all least good at being X. This option on tube TVs that I had never worked for commercials, works so well that I don't notice it on a "smart" TV.

If you don't want auto-brigntness you don't have to enable it. I have a hunch that a TV sets it better (just for the reason that you are unlikely to adjust every time you turn lights on and off) but tastes do differ indeed.

Re: My Amazon TV Now Unmutes Itself During Prime Video Commercial Breaks

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your idea of ownership is simplistic. Around me, the local government owns the home as can be easily found out if you don't pay your annual rent called "property tax". Even if you are not a homeower, you still are not free and clear...

I would say that _your_ idea of ownership is simplistic. You seem to be implying that ownership is only possible if you can own something in perpetuity without any related responsibilities. It's the same idea as "taxation is theft" and other libertarian nonsense.

I'm not a libertarian by any means, nor do I think of tax as theft.

But if someone can legitimately take away property because you don't pay them, I don't think it's yours.

Re: My Amazon TV Now Unmutes Itself During Prime Video Commercial Breaks

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say that _your_ idea of ownership is simplistic. You seem to be implying that ownership is only possible if you can own something in perpetuity without any related responsibilities. It's the same idea as "taxation is theft" and other libertarian nonsense.

I'm not a libertarian by any means, nor do I think of tax as theft. But if someone can legitimately take away property because you don't pay them, I don't think it's yours.

Which is why that’s an extremely simplistic view. It’s literally the simplest possible idea of ownership.

Re: My Amazon TV Now Unmutes Itself During Prime Video Commercial Breaks

#99
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it wasn’t effective it would go away. Enough people out there are actually clicking on these things to be profitable. Who are they? I’ve literally never clicked on an ad in my life. I’m pretty sure no one I know has also (I hope) so who are these people clicking and paying.

As someone who worked in the ad measurement space for over 15 years: we have no idea what is effective. Advertising measurement is a morass of misaligned incentives. The marketers at a company that buys advertising do not get their bonuses because of effective, accurate ad measurement. They get their bonuses because their advsrtising "worked". How do they know it worked? By hiring a third party wo uses statistics to…

I appreciate the insight. What would you say works? Also do you have a blog? I would like to read more about this from an insider's perspective.

Re: My Amazon TV Now Unmutes Itself During Prime Video Commercial Breaks

#100

I'm surprised we haven't seen the "AI-powered" uBlock Origin of video yet. Not blocking by the web request but rather by analyzing the video signal itself. Or even a nice appliance-tier solution. I want to buy an HDMI splitter that when it sees an ad coming through Input 1, switches to Input 2. Switches back to Input 1 when its over. For folks still stuck with cable TV this is Nobel Prize territory.

We've built an android video player that lets you adblock live IPTV [1]. It does exactly as you describe and more. Just endlessly avoids ads going from A->B->C->A and helps you update what plays instead of ads with ease. A passive hardware solution is certainly the endgame, we got enamored with adblock at the codec level as lets us add all the extra worthwhile UI features that should be inside of an innovative linear TV player.

[1]: https://relaxoplayer.com - join waitlist for link to beta apk.

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